Last weekend, in the fifteenth edition of GosuCup SEA, it was Singaporean player Lucas "Azuresky" Giam who ran away with the last $100 we had to give out. His victory also made Singapore one of the countries with most representatives in the grand finals, tied with Philippines with eight players.
On his way to the title, Azuresky had to face several notable opponents, particularly former champions Charge and Aaronkoh, where the luck of the draw, as our newest champion said himself, became the key to victory.
So, you’re going to the finals! How does it feel?
It sure felt great that I have come this far, and I was pretty anxious at that point of time as one match loss would mean that I was out. But at the same time, I was confident in my decks, especially my favourite class Rogue.
You beat two GosuCup champions in Charge and Aaronkoh. How were those matches?
I have to admit, Charge and Aaronkoh were my toughest opponents in this cup. The games were all really close, where the Bo3 score was 2-1 and the Bo5 score was 3-2 respectively. Especially in the deciding game 5 against Aaron, I was relying on him not topdecking lethal for about two turns before I managed to take the win.
The gods of the draw were with you then!
Yeah the draws went smoothly for most games. In my opinion, the starting draws and being able to play on curve every turn, as well as answering your opponent's threats are really important. Sometimes, we don't get good draws and that snowball would just lead to a loss. I have to be thankful that there weren't many games where I started off with bad draws, especially in those critical "match-point" games.
"I think Rogue and Shaman are underrated classes in tournaments."
I know you're a GosuCup "newbie" of sorts since you only have three of them on your account but I also know you're normally a legend player as I've seen you in SEA Legends. So my question is - what took you so long?
Oh, I'm currently an undergraduate studying in the local university. When the GosuCups initially started, I wasn't able to join them as I had multiple upcoming exams which I had to study for. Then I was away for vacation somewhere in the middle of the December holidays. Thankfully, this GosuCup #15 went well for me and that gave me an opportunity to play in the Grand Final with many other great players.
In that case, you’re excused! What are you studying?
I'm studying Chemical Engineering. I guess the mathematics involved in engineering courses could possibly have trained me to calculate lethal faster.
Well, that was going to be my next question so thanks for robbing me of the opportunity to ask it, haha! I guess you're going to stay in engineering after you graduate or are you chasing the eSports dream?
E-Sports is more of a hobby to me - something I really enjoy doing in my free time. I usually spend a lot of time on E-gaming during the summer breaks and holidays. But I will probably be staying in engineering after I graduate. I guess there is a casual link between Hearthstone and engineering, as both require creativity and analytical skills to solve problems/puzzles!
Do you like to deckbuild then? Like, crazy stuff that's not necessarily meta?
Yeah, deckbuilding is fun. I usually test out crazy and absurd decks at the start of each season where losing ranks doesn't really matter that much. Other times, I'll be testing with friends. Such decks can be really fun to use, but getting them to actually work on ladder is a completely different story.
So what crazy thing are you playing now?
I have actually been trying to make this "Mega-burst Shaman" deck work, but it's just too inconsistent. The deck basically involves a whole lot of nukes and windfury cards as opposed to the standard shaman list, such as lava bursts, Leeroy, reincarnate, windfury, etc. I guess it does work once in a few games, where I managed to burst my opponent from a relatively "safe" HP, just like the old-school Miracle Rogue.
"I have been trying to make this "Mega-burst Shaman" deck work, but it's just too inconsistent."
Is the inconsistency problem solvable in the current meta/card pool?
I haven't tried playing that deck recently. But the last time I was experimenting with the deck, it was losing quickly to aggro and it can never beat control warrior. Also, since this deck does not have any massive draw engine, it could be difficult to find the win condition. I guess the inconsistency problem lies with the mechanics of the deck, not so much the card pool.
Going back to things that actually work - you sat on Rogue and Shaman to win GosuCup, much like our previous champion. Is there like a resurgence in those classes? You barely every saw them a few weeks ago.
I think that Rogue and Shaman are underrated classes. Maybe not for the case of Rogue on ladder, since quite a number of people are actually laddering with Rogue. But I haven't really seen much Shaman in both the tournament and ladder settings. Ever since the nerf to Undertaker, I feel much more confident playing Shaman and it really shines against the more popular classes such as Warrior, Warlock and Druid.
Is it, like, catching people off-guard?
I guess you could put it that way. People may not be prepared to counter Shaman since they also don't quite expect it.
You'll be one of Singapore's eight representatives in the GosuCup finals, but the nation is still behind on points. Do you believe that Vetnam and Philippines are honestly better?
That could be possible. But the points are somewhat close to one another, so I can't really conclude which country is ultimately the best yet. Perhaps we would be able to tell if we continue to monitor the performances in future SEA cups!
Are you scared of WaningMoon as pretty much everyone probably is?
Of course. Waningmoon is probably the most consistent SEA player in both ladder and tournaments!
So how does GosuCup SEA and the Asia rankings look after Charge's victory? 31 out of 32 players are already known!
And here are the Asia rankings. Three-times champion WaningMoon and multiple quarter finalist Charge are close to overtaking big names like Amaz and Massan!
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